Such devices can be used for various medical indications, in particular for:                A) The fixation of joint fragments, meaning fragments exhibiting both bone and cartilage elements; and        B) The temporary splinting of toes, in particular for treating hammer toes or other toe misalignments.        
Joint fragments occur for instance in the following cases:                a1) in accidents, for instance in combination with ligament injuries and eventual dislocations;        a2) in chronic joint instabilities; and        a3) in growth disturbances of adolescents (so-called osteochondrosis or osteochondritis).        
In the majority of these cases, the knee joint (femur), the upper ankle joint (talus) and the hip joint ((femur) are affected.
Joint fragments typically measure between 2 and 30 mm and must, for an impeccable functioning of the joint, be anatomically fixated with precision. It is in this connection essential that the joint is not immobilized for cartilage nurturing reasons. A post-operative treatment with a continuous, passive motion therapy (CPM=continuous passive motion) is recommended. Moreover, the joint must be kept stably connected to its base bone in a free moving manner.
The operations for the indications listed under A) above are known as “ostechondrosyntheses”. In these situations, the so-called inter-fragmentary shearing motions are particularly feared. In order to prevent these, fixations are carried out with trans-fragmentary pins inserted from the side of the joint into the epiphyseal bone. The preparation of such pins from a resorbable material is also known.
The joint fragments are mostly so small that only a single pin can be placed inside them. Several pins would also endanger the strength and blood supply of the bone portion. The joint fragments are also often positioned in such a manner as to be accessed in an orthogonal and joint-side direction only with difficulty.
The state of the art for the indications listed above under B) is the Kirschner wire-fixation of the toe joints during the healing time (soft tissue and/or bone healing), where the wire projects from the toe tip. The disadvantage of this already known Art lies in the fact that the patient is barely able to work, because he has to wear a so-called “bumper” (for instance a hard rail).
The most common operation of this kind is the arthrodesis of the proximal interphalangeal joint, meaning the growing together of the bones, where unfortunately only a joint resection (the so-called Hohmann operation) is carried out. Also recommended is a functional operation whereby ligaments of the terminal phalanx are transferred to the base phalanx (the so-called Girdlestone and Taylor operation, 1947). Both operations require a 6-8 week mechanical immobilization.
The WO2004/089255 describes a tubular device for the temporary splinting of toes, which is implanted by a guiding wire. However, this known device possesses several disadvantages, as follows:                The round cross section of the tube causes a situation wherein individual bones can turn around the tube, meaning that a rotative securing of the implant is lacking;        An expensive operating technique (the inserted guiding wire may bend and take a wrong path; the tube may jam on the guiding wire; the tubular implant and the guiding wire are weakened in themselves (small wire size and central channeling in the tube; the application from a distal point, meaning originating from the tow body, sacrifices the distal interphalangeal joint).        